You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
HarperCollins, Random House and Hachette each have two books on the 13-strong longlist for the Green Carnation Prize 2014, which celebrates LGBT writing.
Kerry Hudson’s Thirst and Neel Mukherjee’s The Lives of Others from Random House imprint Chatto & Windus join All the Days and Nights by Niven Govinden and Vixen by Rosie Garland, published by HarperCollins imprints The Friday Project and Borough Press respectively, on the longlist. Hachette titles Anna Freeman’s Fair Fight (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) and In Search of Solace by Emily Mackie (Sceptre) are also longlisted.
Other titles on the longlist are: Through The Woods by Emily Carroll (Faber & Faber); The Absent Therapist by Will Eaves (CB Editions); The Glasgow Coma Scale by Neil D A Stewart (Corsair) and Kirsty Logan’s The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales (Salt). Completing the longlist are: Anneliese Mackintosh’s Any Other Mouth (Freight); Unspeakable Things by Laurie Penny (Bloomsbury); and Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt’s Invisible Love (Europa Editions).
Chair of the judges for 2014, journalist Kaite Welsh, said of the longlist: “The judging panel for this year’s prize were in luck – some of the most dynamic and exciting books from the past twelve months have been from LGBT authors. Out of those, we’ve compiled an amazing longlist that should be on everyone’s to-read list. The 2014 Green Carnation Prize has coincided with a bumper year for LGBT writing from established authors to new voices.”
She added: “Whittling the list down to 13 was difficult and enjoyable, and we’re confident that picking the shortlist from such a great collection will be just as challenging.”
Joining Welsh on the judging panel are: Simon Heafield, marketing manager for the prize’s partner Foyles; Laura Macdougall, a Fiction editor at Hodder & Stoughton; and writer, critic and journalist Gareth McLean. It apparently took the judges “several days of debates” to choose the longlist from the submissions, which were higher than in any previous year.
Heafield said: “As a judge, I’m immensely proud of the longlist we’ve chosen, a selection of extraordinary books representing the best of LGBT writing across the genres. As a bookseller, I’m excited to have the opportunity to introduce readers to these thirteen unforgettable books, many of which aren’t yet as well known as they deserve to be.”
The Green Carnation Prize is a prize awarded to LGBT writers for any form of the written word. This year has seen the growth of the prize, to encompass works of translation, as well as a partnership with Foyles.
The partnership will see Foyles host the prize’s award ceremony in their new flagship store on 28th November, with public events celebrating the prize to follow.
The shortlist for the prize will be announced on Thursday 6th November.